Where are the most vehicles towed in Hartford?

Data Editor

About 180 vehicles have been towed from a private lot at 1000 Main Street in downtown Hartford. The lot, next to Interstate 84, is the number one spot for tows in the city— usually between midnight and 5 a.m.

The second-most common location is at 200 Bloomfield Avenue by the University of Hartford where almost 160 vehicles were taken, most frequently at 4 p.m.

Andrew Ba Tran/TrendCT.org

A parking enforcement officer prepares a ticket for a truck on Main Street in downtown Hartford.

Andrew Ba Tran/TrendCT.org

About 144 vehicles were towed from the parking lot of this Travel Inn since 2015. It's the second-most common spot in Hartford for vehicles to be towed.

More than 20,000 vehicles have been towed in Hartford since 2015.

That’s at least $1.8 million in towing charges based on the minimum allowable rate for non-consensual towing set by the state.

Vehicles towed are most-frequently at least 10 years old. The most common year for vehicles towed was 2001, with more than 1,500. Hondas are most-often towed, which probably reflects the large number on the road.

Looking specifically at year and model, Nissan Altimas and Honda Accords alternated in the top five positions from 2000 to 2003.

Most common year and model of towed vehicles in Hartford

Year

Model

Tows

2000

Maxima

194

2001

Accord

136

2001

Maxima

130

2000

Accord

119

2003

Accord

119

City of Hartford

The most-common vehicle colors towed were gray, black and red. Cars were most likely to be towed in the hours after noon.

Some drivers had especially bad experiences, having had their vehicle towed almost a dozen times since 2015.

Vehicles with the most tows

Since 2015. Last character on plate left off for privacy.

Year

Model

Plate

Tows

2002

Lancer

6AFSU

11

2000

Maxima

7AFST

9

2004

G35

4ARHP

9

2010

Civic

8APVS

9

1993

Accord

AB6781

7

City of Hartford

Some towing companies were much busier than others.

Cross Country Towing in particular towed almost twice as many cars as the second-busiest firm.

Busiest tow firms in Hartford

Since 2015.

Cross Country Towing

3135

Whitey’s Frame Shop

1765

Corona’S Auto Parts,Inc.

1673

Friendly Auto Body & Towing

1659

Modern Garage

1512

A & N Auto

1482

Metro Autobody & Towing Inc

1450

Benton Auto Body

1438

Reno’S Auto Body

1437

Capitol Towing

1246

Central Auto & Transport, Llc

1235

Central Garage

1182

Capitol Automotive Llc

1153

International Towing Company

138

D & L Towing

115

Elmwood Automotive

25

Auto Lock

17

A & M Towing

9

Four Aces

8

Medina Auto Body

2

Caron Towing

1

SOURCE: City of Hartford

Where tow firms target?

When police request a tow, they notify a dispatcher, who goes down a list of about a dozen towing firms, said Eric Boone, chief executive officer of the Hartford Parking Authority.

Parking enforcement officers only initiate tows after finding a vehicle that has more than five overdue tickets and whose owner did not resolve the issue within 24 hours after the vehicle was fitted with a boot — a device that immobilizes it.

Within two years, officers have booted 850 cars. Of that 850, only 100 resulted in tows, said Boone.

The majority of tows in Hartford come from private lots, which usually have exclusive arrangements with tow companies.

If a vehicle is towed from a private lot, the lot operator must call police to let them know that the vehicles was towed so a driver can be notified if he or she calls.

Cross Country Towing handled tows from six of the 10 addresses where vehicles are most commonly towed. Most of the addresses listed are private parking lots, with most towing occurring overnight.

People might park there thinking no one is around, or no one will care.

“The key lesson from this is if you park in a lot, pay attention to the signage,” said Boone. “If you’re’ not supposed to be there, don’t park there because you’ll probably be towed.”

Most common addresses targeted by tow companies

Address

Tow firm

Tows

200 Bloomfield Ave.

Cross Country Towing

78

105 Sherbrooke Ave

Cross Country Towing

36

1000 Main St.

Cross Country Towing

34

100 Weston St.

Corona’s Auto Parts, Inc.

30

57 Sumner St.

Cross Country Towing

29

100 Weston St.

International Towing Co.

27

100 Weston St.

Metro Autobody & Towing

26

198 Sigourney St.

Cross Country Towing

22

887 Asylum Ave.

Cross Country Towing

22

1000 Main St.

Corona’s Auto Parts, Inc.

21

City of Hartford

According to our analysis, vehicles are more likely to be towed in areas where there aren’t a lot of residents. Typically, residents don’t park illegally.

Instead, vehicles are towed in areas with more temporary and metered parking, such as downtown, especially where restaurants tend to be, as illustrated in the maps below.

Check our work: The GitHub repository containing our work is available here. We encourage you to look over our calculations and expand upon our analysis.

Andrew is a data editor at TrendCT.org and the Connecticut Mirror. He teaches data visualization at Central Connecticut State University as well intro to data journalism at Wesleyan University as a Koeppel Fellow.
He was a founding producer of The Boston Globe's Data Desk where he used a variety of methods to visualize or tell stories with data. Andrew also was an online producer at The Virginian-Pilot and a staff writer at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He’s a Metpro Fellow, a Chips Quinn Scholar, and a graduate of the University of Texas.